Eliana Rubashkyn

Eliana Rubashkyn (born 25 June 1988) is a Colombian–born formerly stateless New Zealander, known internationally for being the first intersex person assigned male at birth legally recognised as a woman with a U.N. resolution under the international refugee statute. Rubashkyn is a pharmacist, chemist and polyglot; Eliana currently works as a nicotine harm reduction scientist and develops campaigns of support addressed to LGBTI asylum seekers, refugees and intersex persons in New Zealand.[1]

Eliana Rubashkyn
Born (1988-06-25) 25 June 1988
Bogotá, Colombia
CitizenshipNew Zealand
OccupationPharmacist, chemist, polyglot, human rights advocate

Rubashkyn's gender was recognised under the United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.[2] Rubashkyn's case attracted international media and legal attention after her mistreatment following her detention at Hong Kong International Airport because of the lack of congruence between her gender identity and her passport photo,[3][4][5] resulting in several years of statelessness in Hong Kong, and inhumane reclusion into several refuge centers across Yuen Long.

Personal life

Rubashkyn was born in Colombia to a Ukrainian Jewish mother who had moved there in the 1970s.[6] She was assigned and raised male but born with an intersex condition known as Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome.[7][8][9]

In 2011 Rubashkyn obtained her degree in pharmacy and chemistry at the National University of Colombia.,[10] after studying molecular biology in the University of Granada she was granted a scholarship to develop postgraduate studies in public health at the Taipei Medical University, and started at the same time her gender transition in Taiwan.

Within a year, hormone replacement therapy changed Rubashkyn's physical appearance dramatically due to her intersex condition, and the Taiwanese immigration authorities required her to update her passport at the closest Colombian consulate before she could begin her second year of master's studies. She travelled to Hong Kong to do so, but when she arrived at Hong Kong International Airport's immigration facility, she was detained for over eight months in several detention and refugee centres because of her ambiguous legal condition.[11][12] suffering from abusive mistreatment and constant sexual abuse and harassment in several of the reclusion centres she lived.[13]

She was also restrained in a psychiatric ward of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon, caused by an attempted suicide, after being constantly mistreated and sexually abused.[14][15] [16]

Unable to seek asylum to be granted protection as a refugee in Hong Kong due to that government not having ratified the UN Refugee Convention, she faced deportation, and suffered severe mistreatment in the airport's detention centre.[17]

Rubashkyn currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand, where she was eventually granted asylum as a refugee.

Rubashkyn learned many languages fluently in the refugee centers she lived during 2012, 2013 and 2014.[18]

She remained stateless until 3 April 2018, when she was granted with New Zealand citizenship based on her exceptional circumstances[19]

Statelessness

In 2013, the UN sought another country to resettle Eliana because of the lack of protections for LGBT people and refugees in Hong Kong. She refused to contact her home embassy to prevent deportation because of the lack of diplomatic assistance they offered and Eliana became stateless de facto from 30 October 2012. Eliana's position as a refugee limited the contact she could have with authorities from the governments of Colombia.[20][21][22]

Marriage

On 2 June 2015, Rubashkyn was married in New Zealand to an Yemenite man named Itamar.[23][24] The NZ Registrar of Marriages caused some controversy in relation to the solemnisation of her marriage when, in addition to her present legal name, they asked for her dead name to register the marriage.[25]

International response

With the help of Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), she was granted refugee status. However, because Hong Kong is not a signatory of the 1951 refugee convention, it did not recognise her as a refugee and sought to deport her to Colombia.

Her case drew international attention, particularly in Southeast Asia and Colombia, where transgender and intersex people are often persecuted. Her case was also noted in New Zealand, a country known for its stance on equality for LGBT people.[26][27][28]

On 16 December 2013, the UN passed a resolution recognising Rubashkyn as woman under the UNHCR refugee system. She became the first gender diverse person recognised as a woman in China or Hong Kong without having undergone a sex reassignment surgery.[29][30]

In May 2014, New Zealand accepted Rubashkyn as a refugee and granted her asylum,[31] extending a universal recognition of her gender. Her case was the first in the world in which the gender identity of a person was recognised internationally.[32][33]

A CNN story about her struggle and a short documentary about her life in Hong Kong won a GLAAD Media Award in May 2015.[34]

New Zealand citizenship

After six years of statelessness in April 2018, the government of New Zealand on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs granted the New Zealand citizenship based on her exceptional and unique circumstances.[35]

References
  1. "ITANZ - Intersex Awareness New Zealand 2019 - Board Members".
  2. Human Rights Campaign 2014. "Hong Kong recognized Trans woman without Sex reassignment Surgery".
  3. "Misunderstood and stateless in Hong Kong: A transgender woman's nightmare". CNN International. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  4. "Transgender Refugee goes through hell in Hong Kong". UNHCR. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  5. "Hong Kong is 'hell' Transgender postgrad student-turned-refugee struggles to be recognised as a woman". gaystarnews.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. "נולדה כאינטרסקס בקולומביה, שרדה אונס ואלימות, ואז התאהבה בישראלי". 23 May 2018.
  7. "專訪：前跨性別難民Eliana（國際特赦組織香港分會人權雜誌春季號）Interview: Former Transgender Refugee Eliana (Amnesty International Hong Kong) Human Rights Magazine Spring Issue)". 28 April 2016.
  8. "Gender refugee hopes for NZ citizenship". 3 Degrees - TV3 New Zealand. 26 July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  9. Vesga, Alejandro (11 July 2015). "El purgatorio de una transgénero víctima de un pasaporte con sexo masculino".
  10. @LincolnTanNZH, Lincoln Tan Lincoln Tan is the New Zealand Herald’s diversity, ethnic affairs and immigration senior reporter [email protected] (29 August 2014). "Transgender refugee says NZ paradise". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  11. "The Colombian transgender woman stranded in Hong Kong". Revista Semana. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  12. "Transgender refugee goes through hell in Hong Kong to be recognised as woman". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  13. "Trans Refugee Finally Finds Safety in New Zealand". The Advocate. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  14. "10 Harrowing Tales of Stateless People - 2 Eliana Rubashkyn". Listverse. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  15. "Misunderstood and stateless in Hong Kong: A transgender woman's nightmare". CNN International. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  16. "Live Interview (In Spanish) on CNN after being released from her reclusion in Hong Kong and China". CNN International. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  17. "10 Harrowing Tales of Stateless People - 2 Eliana Rubashkyn". Listverse. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  18. Rubashkyn, Eliana (5 September 2014). "Misunderstood and stateless in Hong Kong: A transgender woman's nightmare".
  19. "Raped and beaten for her gender identity, refugee's story of survival". Newshub. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  20. "Transgender refugee goes through 'hell' in Hong Kong to be recognised as a woman". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  21. "Stuck in limbo the tragic story of the transgender refugee Eliana Rubashkyn". Time Out Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  22. "UNHCR and De Facto Statelessness" (PDF). Hugh Massey, Senior Legal Adviser, UNHCR Geneva. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  23. "נולדה כאינטרסקס בקולומביה, שרדה אונס ואלימות, ואז התאהבה בישראלי". 23 May 2018.
  24. Tan, Lincoln (2 June 2015). "Transgender refugee set to wed". The New Zealand Herald.
  25. Tan, Lincoln (4 June 2015). "Past 'haunts' transgender wedding day". The New Zealand Herald.
  26. "Cơn ác mộng của người chuyển giới ở Hong Kong". Hot News Vietnam. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  27. "Transgender refugee stranded in Hong Kong describes struggle to be recognized as woman". Shanhaiist. 3 April 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  28. "La historia de Eliana, la joven transgénero que está atrapada en Hong Kong". Diario El País. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  29. caracol.com.co. "Transexual reconocida como mujer en China". Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  30. "行街紙隱去性別未變性博士准住女病房". Apple Daily Hong Kong. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
  31. "En libertad la transgénero presa en Hong Kong". Revista Semana. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  32. "Eliana Rubashkyn. First case of International gender recognition through asylum". Fundacion Triangulo. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  33. "Transexual colombiana atrapada en Hong Kong recibe refugio en Nueva Zelanda". RCN. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  34. "Eliana Rubashkyn". GLAAD. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  35. "Raped and beaten for her gender identity, refugee's story of survival". Newshub. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
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